One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of getting a good idea when it's the best time to plant spearmint is to look at the USDA zone info for Newton.

Planting Calendar for Spearmint

Frost tolerance for spearmint:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since spearmint are very cold tolerant you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant spearmint in Newton is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant spearmint and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your spearmint may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your spearmint indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Newton. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Newton and it is different every year. Half of the time in Newton it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your spearmint in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Newton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Newton

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Newton.